Even if you love your career frustration can set in...

There comes a point in every career that you start to have bad days and start to think things, like why do I do this? What is my goal? Do I even want to do this anymore? Does what I do matter to anyone?
If you job is high stress this can come on quicker than in other fields. When it comes to the IT Field you can face high stress almost every day. I started feeling like this about a month ago. The calls would come into the help desk and while trying to deal with those I was doing other projects that required a lot of attention to detail that I could not provide because I was on the phone helping users and doing other things at the same time. I used to wake up and look forward to going to work and facing new challenges. Now I wake up and I have to talk myself into it. I knew there were a ton of projects that I needed to work on but I just did not have the drive. I felt like why bother, there will just be another one right after it and no one cares. Going back to a retail store to stock shelves all day seemed like a better alternative than this. Basically I forgot some of the most important things about myself.
I lost sight of why I got into this field. What I loved about it. What used to drive me to try to be better every day. I wasn't sure how to get it back. Even my co workers could see I was stressed out. I would normally just answer a question and talk a little about something related. Now they would get a one word answer and I was short and barked at them gruffly. I knew it wasn't right to do and they were all working as hard as me, but I felt like I was drowning.
But then one day something good happened. I had several calls in a row and everyone thanked me for my help and told me how wonderful I was to work with. How I always can get them out of a jam and that I was truly a valuable person to have at the desk. Then as I was going through helping people by email requests, they were each coming back saying the same thing. One person said, "I know you guys don't get the respect you deserve sometimes, but this office really appreciates all that your team does for us. That email got flagged and marked in a category called "keep going you're on the right path".... I then had a moment to myself, it was quiet on the desk and my projects were waiting on updates from others that would not come for at least a few hours, so I started cleaning out my desk drawers. They get to become a disaster If I don't try to keep up with them. As I was going through the one drawer a small card fell out, It was a thank you card I got one of the first years I started working there. The person had written up a small note thanking me for the amount of time I took to make sure her offices were up and running and how she was so thankful for the amount of time and effort I put into the task. She said I went above and beyond what was needed and she was thrilled. I had forgotten I had that card. So I put it on my desk near where all my papers sit that I have to work on every day so I could always see it.
I went home that night and made sure I replayed all the good comments and remarks I heard and read throughout the day in my head. I asked the important questions that needed to have answers to make it all clear, "Why do I do this work?" "What gave me my passion for this role so long ago?" I remembered how back when I first got into the computer field, I was not sure what I wanted to do, I didn't know where to start. There were a few people in my neighborhood I talked to all the time, I told them I was looking into getting into computer work. they all asked me for some small help on the computer. Basic stuff, how to get AOL to dial up right, (I know, no body remembers that stuff!) How to make Windows 98 run a little quicker. All small things I knew how to do. And each person was so happy I could help them in some small way. They all said I had great patience to work with them and I would go far in the field. I realized then that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be in a support role to help people with the computer. People need someone who can give them help stay focused and not get upset when its hard to explain to them how to do something. I remember how I would work hard on learning how to talk to people and explain technical things in a way they would understand. I felt better that night.
I woke up the next day and went back to work with a new recharged feeling. It was a hectic day, the desk was really busy. There were several issues going on that needed to be fixed with a few steps each time. I worked with every person until they were working and happy, I stayed calm, focused and did not feel stressed. I was enjoying the challenge. The day went by really quick. It was a great day. I made sure to remember how I felt that night and thought about more ways I could improve. I started reading about some new technology we were going to be using. I made sure to know how to work with it and thought about what issues I could face with this new stuff. I was back. It was great again.
So how do you get back to a place where you love what you do? I don't have all the answers but reminding your self of why you went into that field can help. Also get feed back from others. Find out what drives your peers in the field and why they started in the field as well. Ask co workers to evaluate you and tell you what they feel you need work on. When you have a bad day, before you leave, make sure to shake it off and leave it at work. Go home and doing something you love to do that has nothing to do with your work. Once you feel better try to think about the day and how things went. See if you can find ways to improve things. If you do that after working on a hobby or something you love to do, your mind set will be better and you can look back at the day with a fresh outlook and it may help you make the next day better. If you can do these things to help you feel better about your path again, you will start to have better days. It will bring you back to enjoying what you do again.

A look at what being in IT is like

A lot of times I get asked what is it like to be an IT person? I can sum it up in one word... EXHAUSTING
There is always something new to learn. When I started the company I am at currently, in my first week I had to learn 7 different applications. AT warp speed... a call would come in, this application is not working right.... Ok, what is the application, how do I use it so I know how to tell the end user how to use it or what they are doing wrong. Then I have to learn this other application that helps me do MY job. It was a crazy time.
We as IT people don't get the luxury of taking a weekend to sit down with the manual and read about a new program and figure out how to make it do what we want. we usually learn it during a call with an end user, they need it to run right now and its not a common application like your standard say... photo editor program. When this happens you have to rely on you knowledge of how other applications work and how they are laid out. You have to remember the common things that all applications have that you have seen before, like an options menu, or that the Print command is always in the file menu.
Then on top of learning the 12 new versions of the software that you support that just got released yesterday, you have to be able to rapidly figure out what issue is happening as the next call comes in and be able to use your tools and skills to figure out why a network connection went down. Now there is no internet... and people cant get to their files.... this is a situation that can get even the calmest of managers seeing red and taking swigs of Maalox. If it were still 1999 the internet being down would not be a big deal, the users would have their applications in front of them on their local computer and they could get other things done and calmly wait for the internet to come back up to check their emails. Not so much anymore... Business happens at the speed of the internet and the internet has everything connected. If the internet connection goes down business stops. Money stops flowing. You get that call, you have to get the internet back up if you can or be able to work with the local provider to get the issue fixed. Now you have to be able to quickly troubleshoot from simple to more complex and make sure if its just one user or all the users. Again you have to use all the experience of doing this before to try to determine this quickly so that you can get to a resolution fast and move on to the next call. Now you find out it is the provider and that its out of your hands. Now you have to make sure to convey to the internet provider that the connection needs to be restored and that it needs to happen quickly, and then you have to tell the manager the news and convey that it will be ok and this happens from time to time and it will all get resolved quickly. That brings up another skill you need, the ability to put this into words that anyone can under stand. You cannot tell the finance manager that the T1 circuit is in fail over mode and there is a fiber splice. He will not know what that means and not know what the situation is. You have to be able to tell him that there is a connection issue but it will be resolved but there is physical damage that will have to be repaired by the provider and a crew will be out working on it. You have to be able to explain technical things to a non technical person. That can be hard to master. You are around other It people all day you throw the terms back and fourth constantly all day, "fiber splice," "CAT 5 Cable" Defragment the drive. Then you talk to a non It person and forget your not in the same field. You have to change your explanation on the fly as to what is going on. I see IT people all the time who are good but have trouble putting it into words that someone else can understand.
Its also good to actually learn some of the business aspects of the company you work for. It makes it easier to understand why things are done the way they are in the office. If you learn how the A/P department process payments to go out, you learn more and you may even find ways for them to do it differently that is better than whats done today. Learning some non IT skills is also good. Management love having an IT person that is well rounded. They will feel more confident in your ability and know you have a desire to know your company and learn new things. It can lead to better opportunities and even a little more pay. Which is always a plus.
So the next time you see your IT person and they have their head down and they are staring at their screen, they are not reading some non work thing just goofing off like you think, they are learning the new financial application which is rolling out next week and trying to figure out how to get the California office back online all while trying to explain to the CFO why the cloud costs so much if there is no physical server here in the office!